And nothing is more wonderful than man. But Sophocles has been gone a long time. For example, Wilfredo Ledezma is tied for the major league lead in wins.
That Ledezma has won three games, while Daisuke Matsuzaka is scuffling along at 1-2, is pretty bizarre. Boston's new ace was extremely impressive against Toronto last night, striking out 10 Blue Jays in six innings. But he had an unexpected hiccup in the fourth inning. After walking just two batters in his first 17 AL innings, he suddenly bunched three of them (his only ones of this night) around an Overbay single. Matsuzaka righted the ship after that (striking out five of the next six hitters) but two runs had scored, and that was all Gustavo Chacin was going to need.
At least the single run the Red Sox scored was one more than they were able to push across the plate the last time Matsuzaka worked, when they were utterly overwhelmed by the Utterly Overwhelming (if not Downright Awesome) Felix Hernandez.
Now it wouldn't be a Gustavo Chacin start without a home run by the other team, but you have to like the way Gus took care of business last night. Instead of allowing three of them, he gave up one that was hit roughly as far as three of them put together. And with no one on base, which is also typical of the way Chacin manages these things...
The Braves still have the best record in the majors, although by the time this Goes to Virtual Press in the morning that distinction may (or may not) belong to the Dodgers. John Smoltz picked up career win 195 last night, and the outfielder they have playing second base chipped in with four hits. Kelly Johnson is also their leadoff hitter, and the Braves have been happy with his defense, and the nine walks he's drawn at the top of the order in the first dozen games. But you do want your leadoff batter to be above the Mendoza line, especially when your cleanup hitter is also hitting .180 something. This early, of course, four hits will get you there. Say, what happens when Andruw starts hitting?
Alex Rodriguez. Be afraid. Be very afraid. I don't think he's going to hit 70 home runs... at least not by the All Star Break. But this guy is on a mission.
I have some further praise for the new broadcast crew. For one thing, Ashby made me laugh out loud. Howarth was noting that not only was a sizeable press corps in town to watch Matsuzaka, but the game was on Japanese television where it was 10:00 in the morning, on the far side of the International Date Line. This meant, as Jerry observed, that Matsuzaka was throwing a pitch on Tuesday night, while his fans at home were watching on Wednesday morning? "Wednesday morning?" said Ashby. "So they already knew who won?"
Well, I laughed.
Anyway, I think Ashby's personality is a much better fit to share the booth with Howarth. We all know what Jerry's like - if you don't like him, you find him smarmy and smug; even if you like him, and I like him a lot, you recognize that he is just relentlessly upbeat and positive. Two of them in the booth at the same time, which is what we've had since Tom Cheek got sick, just doesn't work. This is so much better.
As I say, I like Howarth a lot, and not just because he's one of the nicer people you have a hope of meeting down at the ball park - I especially appreciate that he is always focused on what's happening on the field. And as someone who used to score games over the radio, this is a big deal for me. I was always very grateful that he made sure to give the official scoring on every play he called, and that he even generally managed to review the ones he wasn't doing the play-by-play on. Tom was always occasionally prone to telling stories, and leaving stuff out. So I'm glad to see Howarth working with someone whose approach and strengths are a much better fit with his own.
I'll be in the house tonight, and I'll be curious to see how much of Matsuzaka's press corps has hung around to watch Tomo Ohka tonight. Ohka, apparently, has always felt a bit overlooked in his own country - and he's had some pretty decent major league success himself. It was perhaps his misfortune to have his best years in Montreal, which is both on the wrong side of the continent and not exactly a team of enormous interest outside of Montreal itself. Or inside Montreal, for that matter.
At any rate, after a couple of disappointing starts to kick off his season, T.O. may feel he has something to prove tonight. Could be good.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20070417221834465